Russia is big and so is China.

In these days of stupid extreme heat I thought I would mention something a friend of mine found when I told her one of the reasons it was so verdammit hot in her house - even more than, you know, everywhere - was because her attic is inadequately vented for heat management, and then she found that there are now solar-powered attic vent fans, which work pretty well and have no continuing operations cost, since, after all, they're solar-panel driven. And since there's a single install point, it's a lot cheaper to install than adding half a dozen or so chef's hat-style passive fans.

I thought that might be worth mentioning given the last few days' worth of heat.

Oh, and also to my surprise, most of those solar garden lights you see for sale use standard AA NiMH (or in some cases, NiCad, watch out for those - it'll say on the package) batteries, and they're replaceable - they pop in and out like in any other AA-powered device. What's interesting about that is that it means every one of these things is, therefore, a battery charger with fittings for two AA NiMH or NiCad batteries. Sure, they're slow chargers, but still. If you get the spotlight kind, you've got an emergency directional light and a battery charger - or rather, you've got several, since they come in packs of two to 14.

You never know when something like that might come in handy.

In terms of garden placement, I've found that placing one spotlight type aiming in the area around a non-spotlight type that's located, say, partly under a small tree (in this case, a Japanese maple) produces a really nice halo effect that neither one achieves on its own.

Other than this, it's too hot to think and I'm tired all the time from the hot. When I went to bed last night, it was 27C/81F outside our house. That was at one fucking AM this morning. I'm glad I don't have anything due on Monday, tho' I'm going to work on stuff regardless.

Today's Cultural Warfare Update

Focus on the Family claims, without any actual evidence (and indeed in the face of quite a bit of contradictory evidence) that abstinence-only education is a big success;

Government Accounting Office says government-funded faith-based initiatives are engaging in religious discrimination on a regular basis, as any reader of this update will already know; Focus on the Family says the programmes need to be "defended" against this fact-based "attack";

Senate to debate a ban on crossing state lines to get an abortion if you're under 18 and doing so to avoid parental-notification law;

Embryonic stem-cell research supporters will keep trying to get funding blocks lifted;

A local newspaper story on one day's events in the anti-abortion demonstrators trying to shut down Mississippi's last women's health clinic providing abortion services;

Missouri loses court case, repeals ban on GBLT foster parents - but they're still going to make it "difficult" for GBLT people to foster;

Focus on the Family says gay and lesbian divorce is why gay and lesbian marriage shouldn't be allowed to begin with; obviously, this doesn't apply to str8 couples;

FotF attacks Congressional study showing that those "pregnancy centres" the anti-abortion-rights movement sets up all over the place near Planned Parenthood clinics mislead people;

Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight talks with an anti-gay rabbi trying to get World Pride in Jerusalem banned by the Israeli government; includes ACTION ITEM to contact the Israeli embassy to protest;

CWA propaganda interview supporting the embryonic stem-cell research funding ban being continued via President Bush's veto; also the "fetal farming" ban;

Another CWA ACTION ITEM to contact the Israeli government trying to ban World Pride events in Jerusalem;

Family Research Council condemns Congress for not passing GBLT marriage ban; they also want civil unions banned;

American Family Association ACTION ITEM against the National Education Association;

AFA ACTION ITEM to take anti-gay "poll" aimed at Ford Motor Company;

AFA/Agape Press reports on a GBLT march on Focus on the Family's headquarters in Colorado Springs;

AFA/Agape Press runs an article by Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight attacking the late Dr. John Money and the entire idea of gender identity disorder; they did this when he was still alive, too, and CWA also runs regular hit pieces on the late Dr. Alfred Kinsey;

Creationist Dr. Kent Hovind is in trouble - 58 Federal charges of tax evasion! He's claiming religious persecution and the AFA is supporting him;

Fundamentalists outraged over University of Louisville's extension of DP benefits;

Traditional Values Coalition says Massachusetts lesbian couple divorce proves GBLT people are incapable of marriage and should be banned from it; they also want comprehensive bans against domestic partnerships, civil unions, and think transgendered people should be involuntarily institutionalised;

Faith and Freedom Network says the Washington State Supreme Court will issue a marriage ruling any day now - and that they'll be distributing their endorsements and "voter's guide" to replace court members later this summer.

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